Which of the following best represents an organismal level question that an ecologist would ask about elephants in the Serengeti?
a) are elephant heard sizes increasing
b)how many elephants are killed
by lions in a year?
c)why are elephants often seen showering themselves with water?
d) does the presence of elephants at a watering hole alter soil erosion rates?

which of the following is an abiotic component of a bat cave?
a)the depth of bat feces covering the cave floor
b) the number of different insects that survive by feeding on bat feces
c) the number of male and female bats living in the cave
d) the width and height of the cave which affects a bat's ability to use sound waves to navigate through the cave

where would you expect to find photosynthetic organisms at the greatest depth and why?
a)freshwater, because there are fewer solutes to refract the light
b) seawater, because it is colder
c) freshwater, because it has more nutrients
d) seawater, because the salt increases light reflection

the prevailing, long-term weather conditions found in an area is it's:
a)climate
b)weather
c) biome
d) season

which of the following has a moderate average temperature with moderate variation and low total precipitation with moderate variation:
a) desert
b) temperate grassland
c) boreal forest
d) temperate forest

what is responsible for making the amazon forest wet and the sahara desert dry?
a) Hadley cells
b)differences in solar radiation with latitude
c) earth's orbit and tilt
d) their position in a rain shadow

What is responsible for making the Great Basin desert of western North America dry?
a. Hadley cells
b. Differences in solar radiation with latitude
c. Earth's orbit and tilt
d. It's position in a rain shadow

Why can't people in Zaire (located in central Africa) raise (and eat!) their own cows?
a. There is not enough water for cattle
b. The predation pressure from lions is too high
c. The cows would be killed by a parasite that causes trypanosomiasis
d. It is too hot to grow the grasses cattle need to eat

Which of the following is best labeled as a ultimate explanation for homing behavior in spiny lobsters.
a. They have receptors in their brains that detect changes in the Earth's magnetic field, they move based on information about changes in the strength and orientation of the magnetic field
b. They have large antennae that sense chemicals in the water so that they can locate the unique composition of the water around their home burrow.
c. The homing behavior allows them to search for food over a wider area in darkness and return before predators become active during the day.
d. They have large antennae that sense water currents when the current changes at sunrise they move back to their burrows.

Which of the following is an example of an innate behavior?
a. A bird raised by humans makes the same calls as those raised in the wild.
b. A bird remembers where it has stored food.
c. A mouse travels through a maze to find food.
d. A young chimpanzee watches its mother fish for termites with a twig and gradually becomes proficient at this activity.

Which of the following would be the biggest violation of optimal foraging for an animal?
a. They only carry the smallest food items home to eat after their longest foraging trips.
b. They only carry the largest food items home to eat after their longest foraging trips.
c. They only carry the smallest food items home to eat after their shortest foraging trips.
d. They only carry the largest food items home to eat after their shortest foraging trips.

Why are biologists convinced that the sex hormone testosterone is required for normal sexual behavior in male Anolis lizards?
a. Male lizards with larger testes court females more vigorously than do males with smaller testes.
b. The testosterone molecule is not found in female lizards
c. Male lizards whose gonads had been removed did not develop dewlaps
d. Male lizards whose gonads had been removed did not court females.

According to figure 51.5, what is optimal for preparing a female for breeding?
a. both spring-like conditions and exposure to a sexually mature male
b. both spring-like conditions and sexually mature females
c. exposure to sexually mature males
d. spring-like conditions

Monarch butterflies most likely use which type of navigation when arriving in the great plains every summer?
a. Piloting
b. Compass orientation
c. True navigation
d. GIS systems

Any process in which a signal from one individual modifies the behavior of a recipient individual is termed ________.
a. cognition.
b. communication.
c. reflex.
d. perception

Which of the following statements about honeybee communication about food sources is not correct?
a. The length of a waggling run is proportional to the distance from the hive to the food source
b. Sounds and scents produced by the dancer provide information about the nature of the food source
c. The dancer uses no elements of the round dance
d. The orientation of the waggling run provides information about the direction of the food from the hive, relative to the Sun's position

Under what conditions would deceitful behavior be a disadvantage?
a. When organisms live in large, closely related groups
b. Between predators and prey
c. When a rare, recessive allele causes a deceitful adaptation
d. When male and female organisms look different and maintain territories

Which of the following would be an example of reciprocal altruism?
a. A pack of related wolves working to kill a moose.
b. Prairie dogs giving an alarm call to warn of a predator approaching near a colony of related individuals
c. Receiving help from your aunt to raise your children.
d. Unrelated chimps removing ticks from one another

Large number of people are leaving countries in central America and coming to the United States. Which of the following might occur (assuming no other changes):
a. The United States population increases due to immigration
b. The population of central America decreases due to immigration
c. The United States population increases due to emigration
d. The population of central America decreases due to emigration

Which survivorship curve best represents Lacerta vivipara whose life table is given in Table 52.1?
a. Line A
b. Line B
c. Line C
d. None of the above

Which of these terms defines how an organism allocates resources to growth, reproduction, and activities or structures related to survival?
a. Resource allocation
b. Life history
c. Energy budget
d. Demography

Exponential population growth differs from logistic population growth because:
a. Populations with exponential population growth are always density independent; Populations with logistic growth are always density-dependent
b. Populations with exponential population growth are always density dependent; Populations with logistic growth are initially density-dependent then switch to density-independent growth
c. Populations with exponential population growth are always density independent; Populations with logistic growth are initially density-independent then switch to density-dependent growth
d. Populations with exponential population growth are always density independent; Populations with logistic growth are initially density-dependent then switch to density-independent growth

Looking at the data in Figure 52.12 from the hare/lynx experiment, what conclusion can you draw?
A) Hares control lynx population size.
B) Lynx control hare population size.
C) Lynx and hare populations are independent of each other.
D) Hare populations are limited by both predation and food availability

Some birds follow moving swarms of army ants in the tropics. As the ants march along the forest floor hunting insects and small vertebrates, birds follow and pick off any insects or small vertebrates that fly or jump out of the way of the ants. This is an example of what kind of species interaction?
A) competition
B) consumption
C) commensalism
D) parasitism
E) mutualism

Look at figure 53.2 B. If species 2 is a stronger competitor for seeds, then:
A. The fundamental niche and the realized niche would be the same for species 1.
B. The fundamental and the realized niche would be the same for species 2.
C. The fundamental niche would be smaller than the realized niche for species 1.
D. The realized niche would be smaller than the fundamental niche for species 2

Which of the following are examples of induced defenses that result from consumptive interactions?
A. Wasp beetles have black and yellow stripes on their bodies
b. Porcupines have long-spines
c. Mussels have thicker shells when crabs are present in the water
d. Trees that regrew after being eaten have more defensive compounds against beavers

During succession, tall canopies of maple trees form allowing chipmunks to be better hidden against hawks. This is an example of ______.
A. Interaction
B. Tolerance
C. Inhibition
D. Facilitation

When primary producers expend energy to build new tissue, this is ________.
a. Net primary productivity
b. The amount of energy available to consumers.
c. Maintenance costs
d. Both A and B
e. Both B and C

Compared to a chipmunk, an ectothermic aphid that is sedentary and feeds on very digestible food will most likely:
a. lose more energy via excretion
b. convert more consumed energy to growth
c. expend more energy on maintenance activities

Which category makes available the most new tissue to consumers after adjusting for the land area covered by each habitat type?
A. tropical wet forest
B. open ocean
C. algal beds and reefs
D. wetlands

What do researchers typically focus on when they study a particular biogeochemical cycle?
A) the nature and size of the reservoirs
B) the rate of element movement between reservoirs
C) interaction of the current cycle with other cycles
D) Both A and B
E) Both B and C

Which of the following places would have the most nutrient rich soil (highest organic matter content) and why?
a. Tropical forest because these areas have the most aboveground biomass and warm, wet soils
b. Grassland because there is high belowground biomass and soils are colder and drier.
c. Temperate forest because there is high aboveground biomass and the soils and colder and drier.
d. Desert because soils are warm and dry

Considering the global nitrogen cycle, how are humans altering this cycle?
A) industrial nitrogen fixation
B) nitrogen lost to the atmosphere
C) reduction of nitrogen available to terrestrial ecosystems
D) reduction of nitrogen fixation by bacteria

Why are changes in the global carbon cycle important?
A) Carbon is the chief source of food, and burning it reduces available food for primary consumers.
B) Global carbon availability is directly related to the water cycle.
C) Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and increasing atmospheric concentrations alters Earth's climate.
D) Carbon can be recycled only a limited number of times

Which of the following is NOT a consequence of global climate change?
A. Cold-water copopods declining in the North Atlantic
B. Earlier flowering times in Baptista plants
C. Reef-building corals expel their photosynthetic algae
D. Annual net primary productivity has increased most drastically at higher southern and northern latitudes

If the last remaining Florida panthers were all highly related, which type of diversity would be of greatest concern when planning to keep the species from going extinct?
A. genetic diversity
B. ecosystem diversity
C. species diversity
D. taxon diversity

Some locations are called Biodiversity Hot Spots because they contain:
a. Many endemic species
b. Many endangered species
c. Many exotic species
d. Many species that are sensitive to high heat and low moisture

Which of the following is NOT likely a result of habitat fragmentation
a. Declines in large-bodied keystone predators
b. Declines in plant biomass produced on forest edges
c. Increases in effects associated with inbreeding depression in primary consumers
d. Increases in the presence of forest understory plant species along forest edges

Which of the following is NOT a problem associated with small populations
a. inbreeding depression
b. increased likelihood of extinction due to stochastic events
c. Reduced reproductive output
d. increased ability to adapt to environmental changes

On Easter Island, data show that it was once covered by massive palm trees. How can an ecosystem collapse from removal of just one species of large tree?
A) Without large trees, soil erosion increases and reduces productivity.
B) Species of plants needing shade no longer have it.
C) Large trees are habitats for many species.
D) Humans use the trees as a resource.
E) All apply.

Which of the following is not likely a mechanism for biodiversity increasing productivity?
A) Resource use is more efficient.
B) Certain species facilitate the growth of other species.
C) More species means greater biomass.
D) Undersampling may miss big producers in the area.

Which field of agricultural plants is most likely to produce the most food for a family?
a. Corn (warm-season grass) only
b. Corn and Sorghum (both warm-season grasses)
c. Corn, Wheat (cool-season grass)
d. Corn, Wheat, and Soybeans (legume)

A land developer is arguing with a group of ecologists. Of course the land developer wants the most land possible for building houses, but has to compromise by saving some land for animal habitat. The land developer offers 20 hectares in evenly distributed but isolated 1-hectare portions. The ecologists keep arguing for one 20 hectare area to remain intact. Why are the ecologists making this proposal?
A) There really is no difference; they should both work equally well.
B) The isolated hectare plots are better because they spread out the habitat.
C) The isolated plots are more vulnerable to edge effects.
D) The large plot will create more inbreeding in many species.

The habitat of a bat population is designated as a protected area. What, if any, would be an advantage of removing a small number of bats and placing them in a zoo?
A) Removing bats would do too much harm to the original population.
B) Some animals in the zoo could breed more readily and maybe repopulate another area.
C) It is better to isolate bats into breeding groups in the wild than to put them in a zoo.
D) Zoos offer no advantage at all to the population.